Sunday, May 5, 2013

Sew What?! A Birthday Barn Dance Dress

Tiny & Mary
(not necessarily in that order)

Mary recently celebrated her birthday and to mark the occasion, I gave her the last thing in the world that she could possibly need - another Mr. Tiny original. Always hankering to create something new and because our latest musical endeavor, Tiny & Mary, has a decidedly western/cowboy bent, I thought I'd make something thematically appropriate. Too lazy to perform any actual research, I found emotional design inspiration in Town Hall Party (filmed in that well-known, country music capitol of the world, Compton, CA).

"Loved and Lost Again" - Patsy Cline on Town Hall Party

I LOVE western wear but it doesn't always have to be all welted smiley pockets, rhinestones, and fringe, right?! Sometimes (maybe most of the time) I just love those kooky, folky, farm-girl dresses that many of the women wore on Town Hall Party.

On the set of Town Hall Party (1955)
I think Mary could sneak right into this photo totally undetected.
(Source)

I try to convince myself that someday I would like to learn proper sewing technique, but who am I kidding? You probably could teach this old dog new tricks but it would take a veritable mountain of food rewards to get me to roll over. Nevertheless, I should mention that the strapless, fully-lined, bodice is boned using the unproven, Mr. Tiny method (read: complete disregard for any and all of the package's instructions). Combined, the prairie-style skirt has about sixteen yards of length; I thought that cleverly reversing the direction of the stripe in the second tier was an inspiration but if I had it to do over again (and an unlimited amount of material), I would probably make the entire dress one-directional.

Jacquard? Brocade? I am not a textile expert but I am coming to terms

with my predilection for yellow. Lucky enough to live near many discount
fabric outlets, I found something for my usual spending cap of $2 per yard
that was reminiscent of that flocked, damask wallpaper (oh, shoot maybe
it's damask?) used on saloon walls. It is probably rude to post the cost of
the material where Mary can see it, but she knows I am frugal...plus she
got a new dress! Gee whiz, Mary, quit complaining!!!

Mary hasn't quite cottoned on to the idea, but how awesome is it for her to
know that in the event of a downed airplane, a Titanic-style disaster, or a trip
to the kiddy pool, she has her own flotation devices attached to her arms?

Seriously, let's address the giant water wings in the room. How do we feel about the detached, puff sleeves? I tried to convince Mary that sleeves like this are a real thing but every internet search returned photos of questionable, Halloween costumes in various themes. In my mind, the reference point is that episode of I Love Lucy when Ricky and Lucy are handcuffed together; Ricky is appearing as a guest star on a television show and Lucy has to act as one of his hands until the handcuffs are removed. It seems to me that the program's Mistress of Ceremonies had a dress with similar sleeves.

Okay, so I just found this.
I can neither confirm nor deny that her sleeves are
indeed independent articles of clothing, but this is
exactly the dress about which I was thinking.
(Source)

Mary decided to inaugurate the dress by wearing it to a show that we played last week in San Diego. Honored to be opening for Canada's finest, Petunia & The Vipers, we were given the opportunity to enact a little bit of my Town Hall Party fantasy.

Dig that fancy marquee!
See how casually, but with such clear intention, she covers my name...mm hmm...

"Cricket Song" - Petunia & The Vipers

These guys are awesome! If they ever play in your neck of the woods, the word is "GO!"

My real heart's desire is to fulfill the notion of creating the most-perfect, old-timey barn dance that ever was or ever will be. BR5-49 came pretty close with a short scene in their video for "Cherokee Boogie."

"Cherokee Boogie" - BR5-49

See 1:11-1:31

And if Town Hall Party was a stylistic nail, then Big Sandy hit it right on top of it's little, square head with "My Sinful Days are Over" - but I wasn't invited to that party.

"My Sinful Days are Over" - Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys

I guess I'll just be building my mid-century, western-themed utopia one dress at a time. If and when that happens, "Y'all come!"

34 comments:

WOW, now that's a gorgeous dress!! The fabric is so great, and I think the detached sleeves are a neat touch! Mary looks amazing, and oh, those folksy/country type dresses are my biggest weakness. (Funnily enough, just last night I was re-watching the Twilight Zone episode "Midnight Sun" and drooling over Lois Nettleton's tiered-skirt, ric-rac trimmed calico dress!!)

I absolutely LOVE that style of skirt, as evidenced by the fact that my collection of about 60 or 70 skirts is almost all one or another version of it! And, the fuller the better!

The detached sleeves are a good idea; then you don't get that not-particularly-attractive "stretched-out" look of the part under the arms where they are attached. That boned bodice seems to have worked out well; maybe the "cuppage" could be a little more, er, "cupped"; it's a tad flattish,- but maybe that's the way Mary likes it! Overall it seems to have worked out well for a seat-of-the-pants technique!!

And $2 a yard SOUNDS cheapy-deapy but it adds up fast when you need 16 YARDS of material. Plus the actual price paid says nothing about the quality of the material; if you got 16 yards of pure cotton for $2 a yard, that is a definite SCORE! I will kick myself to my dying day for not grabbing a few yards of a Indian-type, double-woven SILK (orange and green, not really my colours but I am sure I could have done something with it) that was going for $6 a yard (yes, you are reading that correctly) on the bargain table at the local Fabricland; of course it was not there when I next went back!

Oowee, that sounds like quite a collection. I'm not telling tales out of school as far as the "cuppage" goes - FLAT is the operative word. I'm sure Mary wises her cups were a little fuller too. HAHAHAHAHA!!!!

That dress is lovely! And I think the alternating pattern on the skirt is a nice touch. I've definitely seen dresses with those sort of independent puff sleeves, though I think sometimes I've seen them attached at the armpit, just about an inch or so. Maybe this was just being practical so they didn't get lost from the dress like a sock in the dryer, but I think it also helps connect them to the dress (energetically speaking). Once again, very nice job!

Thaks Moe! I have become obsessed with sleeves on strapless dresses and so I my have to do some more research and employ the proper technique. She's only worn the dress one time and already the sleeves have gone missing once!

She looks great and the dress is gorgeous! I love that still of skirt but don't think it really suits me. Great price on the yardage. I also have a limit on how much I spend on an article of clothing. I recently found a fabric discount store. They get all the left over from major fabric mills and sale them at better prices than Joann's. Can't wait til I get some extra money and a few hours to kill there.

I am notoriously cheap when it comes to the amount of money I will spend on fabric or a finished garment. However, as I continue to sew, I refuse to use "cheap" fabric. I just try to be a savvy shopper!

The dress is beautiful, you did a fantastic job! I have a 50's cocktail dress with similar sleeves. They are attached by a piece of elastic in the underarm region. If they were not attached they would prob have gotten lost long ago. It prob keeps the sleeves from slipping down as well.

Ignore "Anonymous" there. I LOVE that dress. Absolutely perfect. I've seen those sleeves for sure but can't say whether they're attached in any way or not. I do like that they make the dress a sort of convertible deal though - removable if one doesn't want to get poofy tan lines. And let me say that you look pretty spiffy yourself!

I think this is my favorite Mr. Tiny creation yet! I love the color and the fabric, and I'm quite fond of the detached sleeves. How long did it take you to sew it?

Mary looks adorable, and I love how she added the ribbon around her neck.

I wish we had an old school barn dance hall/honky tonk in Southern California. I've long dreamed of having one of my own. I'd call it "Hog Wild". Shoes would be optional. Tiny & Mary, the headlining act.

Thank you! I'm pretty fond of this one myself (usually by the time something is finished, I am bored or disappointed with it). The bodice went together in no time but the skirt with all of the piecing together and gathering took a while. All told, I think I sewed it over a couple of days. We need to make "Hog Wild" happen!!! I would definitely go barefoot (I can't find boots that fit)....

Tell Mary to put a little safety pin in a discreet place on the inside edge of the bodice or inside the sleeves and when she takes it off she can IMMEDIATELY pin the sleeves to the dress and that way they don't get lost. PS: Mary is your SISTER? Hmm, just goes to show you: never "assume"!

Good idea! Yep, Mary is my "little" sister. There are five kids in our family. While we all have interests in common, Mary and I run in the same circles, write music together, and enjoy many of the same activities. You are not the first person to jump to an alternate conclusion as we do share a last name and we hang out a lot. She is featured in the blog often because my brothers don't look as nice in dresses.

That dress is totally amazeballs! Another work of genius, Mr Tiny. I love the poofy arm band thingies - they create the illusion of an off-the-shoulder sleeve, without the restriction (soooo much easier to dance in!)! Bravo!

This dress is perfection and she's styled/rocked it awesomely! The detached sleeves is a fun way to make a multi-functional piece that can be worn two ways. Slip off sleeves and it goes from day-to-night :D

What a novel idea! I do like the wings, though at first glance I thought they were attached to the dress in some way. Better ease of motion and you wouldn't be constantly worried about the sleeves pulling down the top, which can be a problem with those kind of square dance dresses with sleeves attached. I'm going to have to do some sleuthing, I want to know more about these kinds of dresses (or if they're an inadvertant Wacky Tacky creation, haha!!)